An Ace Up The Sleeve
by BonGarland
Summary: A brief interlude between Daniel and Henley on the plane to Vegas.


**I'm not certain if there's a ship name for Danny/Henley yet so I have dubbed them Denley; were they _NOT _owed more screentime together in the movie? Anyhow, my attempt at adding to their interactions.**

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There was a very limited amount of time in which one could watch raindrops accumulate on a window and not be bored out of one's mind. Unless you were a Buddhist monk, or an idiot. Henley Reeves was neither, and she had not been adequately entertained in hours.

They were on the plane to Las Vegas; the penultimate magic act had been mastered, refined, rehearsed, perfected, and was now ready to stun the world. The Four Horsemen all had running bets on how long it would take to get them uploaded to Youtube, and, subsequently, to one million views. And in the meantime, the plane trip, hindered by storms, was taking forever; the boys were in the front cabin, swindling Mr. Tressler mercilessly at rigged poker.

She had already touched up her eye makeup, and was finishing probably her tenth coat of cherry-red lipstick, with the aid of a compact patterned with a Queen of Hearts card design on the lid. It was old, a gift from Danny years ago, when she'd been his assistant. His partner. His confidante and co-strategist. His…She snapped the compact shut, cutting off the thought just as surely. It had probably been a joke gift after all, notoriously terrible at card tricks as she had always been…

Wrapping a thick lock of auburn hair around her finger, Henley wound, unwound, and rewound the curls absently as she turned her gaze out the window. Which of course was futile, as it was late in the night, and a rainstorm would still be obliterating any sights anyhow. The torrential downpour was eerie, seemingly following them from New York on their lengthy path to Vegas, Henley observed glumly as fresh raindrops slammed against the glass.

Turbulence was not fun either, and she scowled as the plane rocked yet again, slamming her unsuspecting head against the wall of the cabin. Simultaneously, dejected wails were heard from the cabin in front of her, rising in volume as the rattling of tumbling poker chips did. Evidently, Mother Nature had ended their game. She closed her eyes with another annoyed sigh, puffing her lips to blow her bangs out of her face as she settled in to nap.

Not a moment had passed before she felt something, a slight movement in the air unaccompanied by any sound. Shifting into an upright position, she opened her eyes to a deck of cards being held an inch from her face.

"Pick a card," a quiet, clipped voice muttered into her ear, and she followed the deck of cards to the hand that held it, and up the arm of the holder, which was clad in a nice royal blue collared shirt, which perfectly complimented the eyes in the face her gaze finally met. Danny.

Rolling her eyes, she stretched out annoyed, manicured fingers to grab a stupid card and appease him so he'd leave her alone. Retrieving an Ace of Spades, she flicked it around within her fingers, examining the suit uninterestedly.

"Focus on it…Memorize it…Got it?" Danny was saying, and when she nodded, he proffered the deck, and she placed her card on top. Somehow, his hand brushed hers during the transaction, and hers shot back to her chest, as a shiver ran down her spine at the contact. She hated that he could do tricks on her without even brandishing a wand or top hat.

She knew he noticed, but he only gave a small smile, telling her to look into his eyes. She did so slowly, finally working her eyes up to meet his, where cobalt blue trapped chocolate brown with ease. He fanned out the deck in front of her, finally breaking eye contact and nodding down at the cards he was brandishing. "See yours?"

Swallowing with difficulty and wondering what was wrong with her, Henley flicked her eyes downward long enough to see it was indeed her Ace of Spades laying face-up amongst the ranks of the rest of the deck, and quickly hid her eyes with mascara-clad lashes again, settling back into her seat as if to resume her nap again. "Cool trick, Danny."

"You're the only one who calls me that, you know," his voice sounded much closer again, and she opened one eye to see him seated next to her now, shuffling the cards at high speeds, with perfect precision and minimal concentration.

She scoffed, folding her booted feet up underneath her as she sought comfort in the expensive leather seat. "What, do the rest call you Master? Houdini? Prick?"

He was quiet for a moment, and then she heard a low murmur. "You always fit, you know."

"What?" A brow arched high in confusion as Henley looked at him.

"In the trap doors…Onstage…By my side…You know," he muttered casually, sifting through the cards faster and faster.

"Danny, what…" She was cut off when he grabbed her hand, gently placing the deck into it and folding her fingers around the cards. "I'm gonna show you your first card trick."

"My specialty lies beyond your cheap parlor tricks." Her tone was haughty, a last-ditch attempt to fake nonchalance in the face of his sudden openness. But she didn't shove the cards back at him. She relinquished control to Danny, who pulled a card from the deck as she had, flashing her the suit this time.

She was entranced as he pretended to examine the card, while his other hand guided her to subtly flip over the deck, turning the bottom card face-up as he did so. Then he placed his card back into the midst of the deck, somehow making sure his fingers maintained almost full contact with hers the whole time. Henley was losing track of the basic trick already, but bit her lip and tried to focus.

He gave her some tips for verbal distraction while performing the trick, as he'd worked on her, before camouflaging the act of re-flipping over the card that was the "top" of the deck. And when the cards were splayed out in her hands, the card he had originally picked was indeed the one flipped over and standing out. She nodded in admiration and thanks, carefully flipping the card back and compiling the deck before setting it aside, checking her watch. "How much longer till we're there?"

"With the turbulence, probably at least an hour," Danny replied, watching her rise from her seat and move to the cabin-connecting door, quietly shutting it. "Why?"

"And the boys can probably cheat Tressler easily for another hour, right?" Henley continued, making sure to sway her hips as she stepped daintily back to their seats.

"Er…Of course," Danny began, before Henley cut him off, swinging herself into his lap and crushing her lips to his. He managed to break a hand free, snapping his fingers quickly, and the door appeared to lock itself. He was definitely glad sometimes that he had forced himself to learn so many…handy tricks.

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**Thanks for reading. XO ~Bon**


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